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His father.
Jake shoved at Phoenix, tipping the man off his lap, and spun around, his arms out and using his body as a shield between his lovers and the snarling man who was still holding a key in his hand. One that Jake hadn’t given him.
“What the hell? Get out,” Jake screeched, his voice a couple of octaves higher than its usual pitch.
“Don’t you tell me what to do, boy.” The sneer on his father’s face was full of derision. Pure hatred. His latest wife pursed her lips like there was a bad smell in the air, and she looked down her nose at Jake like he was dog shit on the bottom of her shoe. Silently she shifted her stare to Cassidy and Phoenix and sniffed derisively. He hadn’t seen Cassidy put on Phoenix’s shirt, but she stepped up beside him before shouldering her way past his father’s latest wife to move over to the real powerhouse—his father. Cassidy was shouting something at him, the man narrowing his eyes at her before he spat, “Sit there and shut the fuck up.”
Jacob launched himself off the bed, getting in front of a still-yelling Cassidy. Straightening to his full height, he narrowed his eyes and stared his father down. Jake was as naked as the day he was born, aside from the condom hanging off his now limp cock, but he didn’t care. He was too far gone to give a shit about what his father thought anymore. He ground his teeth together, standing chest to chest with the man, ready to come to blows if that’s what it took. His voice was low, barely loud enough to carry over the ruckus his partners were making, but the lethal wrath was unmistakable. “I. Said. Get. Out.”
“You’re done,” his father gloated, the sneer terrifying Jake.
A movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Jake shifted his gaze. The mountain of a man who loved to intimidate and coerce—Maxwell Denyer’s attack dog slash driver—stepped over the threshold of the still-open doorway. With a nod from his father, he bared his teeth in a low growl. He shoved Jake back, almost knocking Cassidy off her feet. Jake reached for her, steadying her, but when the man grabbed Phoenix, Jake lunged for him. He threw his weight against the beast. But he didn’t budge. Jake was no match for him. Like a fly trying to push over a mountain, Jake’s impact didn’t even slow him down. With his giant mitt already wrapped around Phoenix’s bicep, he tossed Jake off like a rag doll.
It sent him sprawling, his arms cartwheeling backward uselessly.
He was on a collision course for the floor.
Jake reached out, trying to stop his fall, and Cassidy shouted, shoving his father out of the way.
It was like a slow-motion movie, one where the hero was falling, watching everything around him happen at warp speed. Cassidy was racing to him, her arms outstretched to try and catch him, while Phoenix struggled against a man that was twice his size, shouting the whole time. But it was no use. Phoenix was no match for him—the jeans around his knees didn’t help either—when he was using his brute strength to force Phoenix out the door.
His hand hit the soft pile of the plush rug laid out on the floor. At least it would break—
Searing pain struck him, fire travelling up the back of his head and down his spine.
Jake’s world went black.
Nine
Cassidy
“J
ake!” Cassidy screamed as he fell, his head bouncing off the coffee table with a sickening crack. “Shit!” Falling to her knees, she grasped his head, steadying his neck as he groaned.
“Help me, you idiot,” she screeched at the woman who looked like she’d sucked on a lemon. “Call an ambulance.” Turning to the older man who, by his looks, could only be one person—Jake’s father—she snarled, “Where is he taking Phoenix? You fucking hurt him—"
His hand curled into her hair, and he yanked backward, making her back arch until she had to let go of Jake. She screamed, lightning bolts of pain ricocheting through her scalp, and she clawed at his hands. Her fingernails bent backward with the force she was applying. He snarled in her face, spittle landing on her cheek. “And you’ll do what, little girl? I’ll ruin you before you even lift a finger. Your job, your apartment? They’ll be gone by the end of the day. You’re done, slut. Just like that faggot is.” He spat at Jake, a glob of sputum landing on the carpet by his arm.
Cassidy dry retched, but she forced down the urge to do it again and gathered all her courage. She sucked in a breath and dug her nails deeper, wishing she could see whether she was drawing blood. Knowing the points in her nails could do exactly that gave her a grim sense of satisfaction, and she hissed, “You don’t scare me.” He wrenched her hair harder, and pain tore through her head and neck as he bent her at an unnatural angle. Tears sprang to her eyes, and Cassidy tried to blink them away. She hated herself in that moment. The show of weakness would only give him more ammunition.
He laughed, the sound as cold as an Antarctic gale, his blue eyes flashing like ice. Jacob’s were the same colour, but they were always warm, always sparkling with laughter. “That’s a mistake you’ll only make once.” He shoved at her, dropping her to the floor on top of Jake, jostling his semi-conscious form.
When Jake whimpered, Cassidy launched into action. She scrambled off him, dashing away from the man who’d thrown their morning into chaos. Where had Jake dropped his jacket? He’d held her phone when they’d gone to dinner with his clients the night before. God, it felt like an eternity ago.There, on the chair.She dashed over and searched the pockets, her fingers closing over the rectangular device as the door swung open again and the monster who’d dragged Phoenix out reappeared.
“All done, boss,” he grunted.
“Good.” His father tossed a disgusted look over his shoulder at his son and strode to Cassidy, using his height to intimidate her. It worked, but Cassidy refused to let it show. She stood her ground, staring at him with her eyes narrowed. His glare turned into a sneer, the baring of his teeth as feral as the man himself. He may have been wearing Armani, but there was nothing civilized about him. “If you’re thinking of calling the police, think again. I’m untouchable in this town.” He eyed her like she was a juicy steak, and Cassidy had the urge to take a shower and scrub her body with a wire brush.
“We’ll see.” She turned and walked away, moving to crouch next to Jake and call an ambulance. The door closed behind her with a resounding snick, and Cassidy lost her composure. Kneeling there on the floor, the blue-grey rug under her, she curled into Jake’s chest and wept. Her hands shook and her vision blurred, but she pushed through and punched in triple zero.
Before she could press Dial, she heard Jake whisper hoarsely, “Cass, babe.”
“Jake? Oh shit, you scared me. Hold on, I’m calling an ambulance and the police.”
“No.” He struggled to sit up, so Cassidy shifted, dropping her phone and propping a hand under his elbow to help him upright. He touched the back of his head tenderly and winced at the lump she could already see had formed. He would have one hell of a headache. At least he wasn’t bleeding too.
She slid around to sit behind him so he could lean on her and picked up her phone again. “I’m okay. I don’t need an ambulance, and no police.” He eased the phone from her fingers and dimmed the screen, placing it face down on the floor. “It’s pointless. My father will just call in a favour and make the complaint disappear. Worse still, he’ll twist it around, and you or I will end up being questioned.”
